0 it's anyone's guess what tomorrow will bring. dawn is a couple hours from now. we'll continue to bring you the latest throughout the day. that does it for us. "early start" begins now. have a good day. fire after fire after fire. colorado burning. homes in flames. treacherous conditions. thousands of evacuated as the battle rages overnight. we are live. crackdown, tear gas, water cannons. an all-night battle. we're live in the middle of the chaos on the streets, as key u.s. allies erupt overnight. and who are these guys? the nba finals take an unlikely turn. the spurs pummel the heat. but you'll never guess the players giving lebron james a headache this morning. good morning, everyone, welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> and i'm christine romans. it's 5:00 in the east. in colorado, crews are battling five separate fires across the state. the most troublesome, the black forest fire near colorado springs. it's consumed 7500 acres and forced the evacuation of some 5,000 homes. fire crews get no help from mother nature this morning. conditions are extremely hot and dry with gusty winds. dan simon high on the fire lines for us in colorado springs, colorado. good morning. >> reporter: hi, christine, we're about a mile or two away from the fire. i can tell you it's pretty smoky out here. not the easiest conditions to breathe. i'll tell you what, this fire shows absolutely no signs of letting up. we're expecting high temperatures today and high winds so this could be a very difficult day. raging wildfires across colorado are forcing thousands to get out of harm's way. >> get out now! >> reporter: the black forest fire south of denver multiplying in size in just hours, and engulfing thousands of acres in its path. the thick billowing smoke visible for miles. massive flames consumes dozens of buildings in this heavily wooded area. >> we are still at zero containment. the fire is still pretty well scattered. it's not just one wall of fire. >> reporter: firefighters say record-high winds and high temperatures are fueling the fast-moving fires. >> with night fall, we hope that the wins have certainly died down since earlier today. >> reporter: the black forest fire, at least one of the fires ablaze in colorado, 150 firefighters aid in the battle. >> we have other fires around the state draining the resources but right now, i cannot be more pleased with the aid we've received >> reporter: this area is no stranger to fires. the waldo canyon fire killed two. >> we're experienced with wildfires. >> reporter: and colorado was not alone. in northern california a firefighter was killed while fighting a wildfire caused by lightning. lightning was the cause of another fire near kingston, new mexico. and earlier, not showing any signs of slowing down. well, this fire has already taken out or damaged dozens of homes, no official count right now. one of the big challenges today is resources with several fires burning throughout the state. they have to get more folks in, i'm sure that will happen today. right now, christine, this fire has zero percent containment. >> whoa, that's not good. dan, not everyone heeded evacuation orders, right? some people are having trouble getting out. what are officials telling them to do now? >> reporter: well, i have to tell you, their experience with wildfires in this area, so people generally have a good sense of when to stay, when to leave. at this point, they're telling folks, if you haven't left, now is the time to really -- stressing that people need to take this fire seriously. hopefully, more people do that today. we don't have a precise number in terms of the number of people who stayed in their homes but apparently there are a few who stayed so hopefully those people will heed those warnings, christine. >> can the fire crews count on any help from the weather today. good morning. >> good morning. unfortunately, it looks like the heat will still be on. the bigger problem is how dry it is out there. we see the red flag warnings around the area. there's a chance of thunderstorms later on in the week, it's so dry. it looks like the real threat could be more lightning. i want to show you the contrast here. look how warm it is. notice we see 90s and 70s on the other side. there's a big temperature difference there. with that, the bigger weather story should be the severe weather. notice all the moist air. once again all of these ingredients. plain dry airlining up with the ridge. with that, we have that moderate risk out there today. what does that mean? we have the threat for tornadoes. big cities, we're talking about chicago, indianapolis, columbus. >> indra, thank you so much. the man behind one of the biggest security leaks in the u.s. on the run. a major development is expected today. the director of the national security agency testifies on capitol hill. there could be fireworks, there could be tough questions. he will be grilled on the comprehensive controversial data-mining operation that the nsa oversees. he might also be asked if anyone has any idea where the leaker is now. here's joe johns. >> >> reporter: investigators are asking where in the world is the man at the center of the scandal. former intelligence contract worker edward snowden. members of congress were told at a briefing at the capital that the national security agency doesn't know a real irony says former justice department official andrew mcbride. >> on one hand, the nsa is collecting all of this information, and we have liberties on the other hand, they don't know where this guy is. >> reporter: chief both the national security agency and the u.s. cybercommander, heading to capitol hill hill and can expect a grilling this afternoon. at least one member said he was surprised by the scope of the surveillance program. >> i did not know one billion records a day were coming understand the control of the federal executive branch. >> reporter: it's part of the growing outcry for the government to make more information available to the public about its secret phone and internet tracking program. and it's not just politicians. internet giants, google, microsoft and facebook are calling for greater transparency, and permission to tell the public what they gave out. and lawsuits are threatening including the aclu challenging the constitution nalt of the phone program. suspected leaker edward snowden said he wants that debate. >> the public needs to decide whether these programs or policies are right or wrong. and i'm willing to go on the record to defend the authenticity of them and say i didn't change these. i didn't modify the story. this is the truth. this is what's happening. you should decide whether we need to be doing this. >> reporter: while a law enforcement official says there's no time frame for when charges will be filed, legal experts say the most likely charge is unauthorized disclosure of classified information under the epps upon 1/2 act. >> there's one felony that clearly applies and that's the disclosure felony which has a ten-year max. so you can stack those up any way you want, under the sentencing guidelines, basically, he's looking at ten years. >> with the alleged misconduct in its ranks an internal memo from the department's inspector general obtained by the cnn claims high-ranking officials stepped in to stop investigations including a u.s. ambassador and then secretary of state hillary clinton's security detail accused of soliciting prostitutes. accused of sexual assaulting foreign guards and an alleged drug ring in iraq. cnn obtained a statement from the ambassador whose name has not been made public calling the claims against him baseless. now, to the gripping intense situation in turkey. new developments this morning. protesters are scheduled to sit down face-to-face with the man they're rallying against, the prime minister. reaching a fever pitch in taksim square last night. protesters setting off water cannons, stun grenades, at limes, celebrations also in protests. our correspondents have been on the ground in the thick of all of this, covering every flare-up, let's take a live look at taksim square. there has been cleanup there this morning. now we're seeing riot police out there. arwa damon joins us live from istanbul, overlooking taksim square. good morning, arwa. >> reporter: good morning, john, and the scene here quite different as to what it was 24 hours ago. but what we are seeing this morning is the gezi park demonstrators. they barricades themselves from the park to the front entrance. the entrance that is closest to where the riot police are lined up. there have been been any clashes so far this morning. but just take a look at some of the images that show what happened just last night. >> reporter: we've been watching all day, tear gas, fires, molotov cocktails, filling the air in the heart of the city. >> reporter: we don't know what sparked this police move but some sort of altercation. they've been seeing that all day. there's no reason why that would trigger such a response by police. >> reporter: we're in the park right now, putting our gas tasks on once again because there's more tear gas. you can see -- people are trying to help us out, because of the tear gas. the entire front part of the park right now has been cleared out because of the intensity of what was just fired in. >> reporter: in the center of the city, fueling so much of the popular response. >> reporter: up to this point, it's kind of building up step-by-step. the government and prime minister is trying to get -- >> reporter: there doesn't seem to be a specific police plan to retain control over this part of the city. >> reporter: violence is just evolving in the last few minutes. and riot police push their way forwards, down the side street, running on the park in that direction. there's now tear gas coming into the park. [ indiscernible yelling ] >> reporter: not tear gas, but instead, fireworks. lots of tear gas in the air. a substantial police presence. in the very center of the square itself. and, of course, the question remains what exactly is the ending here. >> now, the prime minister is supposed to be holding a meeting in the turkish capital in ankara in just a few hours. but what the government is saying, if individuals -- some of the people who have been part of the protests, but we spoke with one man who is a member of the taksim solidarity platform. that is the core umbrella group that is responsible for the gezi park demonstrations. he said that they were not even formally invited. and that all those who would be attending this meeting were effectively people who allied themselves with the government. he was saying for those individuals, the protesters that have really been a part of this from the very beginning, they by and large believe that negotiating, speaking with the government at this point in time, would be completely fruitless, because of the government's heavy-handed attitude, use of force, towards these demonstrators. but also because of the government, the prime minister's rhetoric towards these demonstrators as well. >> and the prime minister's party calling for counterdemonstrations over the week. it's hard to see how the protesters will count them sitting down with the leaders today. arwa damon in that square. thank you for being with us today. president obama travels to boston to meet with ed markey running for senate. markey faces off with challenger gomez. markey's been in congress for more than three decades. he's hoping to win the senate seat. >> it's being overshadowed by the bruins and the red sox. no joke, the boston marathon attack and the whitey bulger case. george w. bush, the majority of americans see the former president in a positive light. the gallup poll finds that 49% now view the former president favorably, compared to 46% who had an unfavorable view. back when leaving office, bush's favorable review was 49%. unfavorable, 46%. the san antonio spurs routing the miami heat 113-77 to take a two games to one lead in the series. the spurs made a fines record 16 three-pointers. >> that's a lot. >> danny green who led the team with 27 points hit seven threes. the next two games in san antonio, tomorrow night's game four is a must, must-win for miami. >> and gary neal who wasn't even drafted, gary neal and danny green are the guys who beat lebron james. king james. >> look at that. unbelievable. >> king james, like the duke of earl, like the squire. all right, coming up, the man accused of holding three women hostage for nearly a decade. he's back in court. we'll have the latest on the charges facing ariel castro. >> yeah, take a look the that. that is a naked man running mild in a subway station. even bigger news, he's an acrobat. we'll tell you more next. ♪ 'cause you make me feel so right ♪